Evaluation of the Cold War Air Defense System

The manned bomber threat was real and not perceived as many students of the subject believe.  If the threat was not real Canada would not have entered into a treaty with the United States forming NORAD.

In the fifties and early sixties the Soviet Union produced a bomber fleet in unbelievable numbers. Lead by the Bear and Bison their fleet also included many other types of aircraft which were to be used as decoys and escorts. It was quickly realized that the Manual System and the Ground Observer Corps would be unable process the massive amount of data that would be received by the system and need to be disseminated as well as the large number of engagements that had to be conducted to defend the country. Thus the need for SAGE.

The infamous SAC Sneak Attack is the highlight which the detractors from air defense use to stake their claim that the air defense system would not work. True, the SAC bomber force was able to penetrate the air defense system. This was an unreal situation as any military force uses intelligence information to determine its state of readiness. The air defense system's intelligence resources watched the Soviets not Strategic Air Command, a friendly force. Had the stand down and regeneration be monitored as the prelude to an exercise/attack, I'm sure the results would have been different. The higher state of alert which would have been declared would have put the most experienced crews on position and all maintenance with the exception of malfunctions would have been delayed. All Fighter Interceptor Squadrons would also have been at maximum readiness. In short the results would have been different.

What would have happened if the Soviets had attacked? In short we would have gotten a bloody nose but they would have lost a large percentage of their bombers and not had many if any turn around bases to launch a second or third wave. Sage was never designed nor was any claim made that it would suppress all manned bombers. If that were true the CADRA (Continental Air Damage Report Assessment) plan would not have been written nor would have been the reconstruction and reconstitution plan been written.

Electronics Counter Measures (ECM) and Electronic Counter Counter Measures (ECCM) followed the fundamentals of warfare.  When the enemy gets a new system it is countered. ECM/ECCM lead to many developments for ADCOM/NORAD as well as SAC. In Sage this lead to the constant parade of new sensor (radar) systems such as the FPS-24, FPS-26 and FPS-35. In the computer itself the RTQC (Real Time Quality Control)  system  eliminated double and triple registration. Data reduction was a constant quest and the master program was changed many times. New radar receivers were developed. Through all this the Three Rs of jamming were constantly applied. These were RECOGNIZE, REPORT and READ THROUGH were constantly exercised. Passive tracking techniques using the strobes the jammers made lead to their interception, engagement and destruction. One of the questions in the Testo Bank was - What is the best ECCM? The answer was destroy the jammer.

As the air breathing threat diminished and the ICBM threat became greater the powers who control the purse strings looked in that direction. First, the Region Control Centers (AN/FSQ-8 not FSQ-7) were shut down as unneeded. This placed us back to square one in the data reduction business. Sage arose to the occasion and the system continued to function in an efficient manner. BUIC (Back Up Intercept Control) sites were brought into service to step in in the event a Sage block house was destroyed or communications lost. Then the internal Sage regions were shut down. We could not overcome that in the data reduction arena. The answer was a modified point defense plan. The radar data from the internal sites were shut off and the sites turned over to FAA. now the engagement of targets that "got through" could not be accomplished. This gave the bomber crew a psychological boost. If they got to their target, they might get out of North America. This had little effect on the system though. As the ICBM threat grew, levels of operations were added. Level one was normal operations. Level two meant the adjacent regions expanded into the disrupted area. Now Level three meant that BUIC had taken control. Level four meant expansion as well as BUIC had occurred. Last Level five was added. This allowed for autonomous operation of fighter units. The theory was as long as we had assets, the enemy would be engaged.

This leads us to the air defense of today. We have none! Today we have an Air Sovereignty. In later days of the Soviet Union and the thought was ICBMs, I asked why they maintained their bomber fleet. There are still bomber fleets in around today and could be used against us. China  as well as other countries are developing nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Think again before dropping air defense as a national priority.

In summary, if the Soviet Union had launched an attack we would have survived. They would have lost their bomber fleet and asa result would also have lost their incursions elsewhere in the world such as Central Europe. The North american Air Defense System would have carried out its mission! Yes, we would have had massive destruction in some areas but the nation would have lived through it and remained strong and rebuilt to fend off the next threat. There will always be a threat.

The world is like a barroom. The biggest guys put up with other. It's the little guy who wants to kick us in the knee. We have to be ready to slap him around to get him back in line.